Abbey Catron tied for 38th after first round of state golf tournament

Abbey Catron is currently tied for 38th place after the first day of the Class 2 state golf tournament in Cape Girardeau.

Abbey Catron is currently tied for 38th place after the first day of the Class 2 state golf tournament in Cape Girardeau.

Catron shot a 44 on the front 9 and a 51 on the back side to finish the day at 95, tied with Elizabeth Francis of Incarnate World Academy and Kelsey Thompson of St. Joseph’s Academy.

Only three players broke 80 on the first day: Ft. Zumwalt South’s Amanda Kim at 73, Parkway West’s Emily Jan Goldenstein at 77 and Blue Springs’ Mariah Peters at 78.

Joplin’s Samantha Stout is in seventh place after shooting an 84, and Lafayette High School sits atop the team standings after posting a 358. There are 91 individual golfers.

“She did really good,” Carthage head coach Lowell Catron said. “She was 8 over on the front and she was 14 over after 14 holes, but she ran into trouble with three triple bogeys. Basically three bad swings cost her about seven shots, that was the difference in her round. She was shooting good enough to shoot about 88 or 90, which would have her in the top 15. I was real proud of the way she played. It’s a course that has trouble on every hole and it’s one of the toughest courses I’ve ever seen.”

The second and final round begins today, and Catron was slated to tee off at 10 a.m.

“I thought she handled herself very well the first day of state,” Catron said. “It’s kind of overwhelming with how many people are watching and the different aspects of it. She got off to a good start and she ran into trouble on the back, but she learned a lot from it.

“She starts on the back side Tuesday, and that will be good because her score wasn’t very good there so she gets to turn around and try to improve on that first thing tomorrow.”